Folks on welfare are getting job help, too

Ohio's cash assistance, or welfare, program is called Ohio Works First, but for far too long the work portion was little more than an afterthought.

Ohio's cash assistance, or welfare, program is called Ohio Works First, but for far too long the work portion was little more than an afterthought.

For years, despite the promises of welfare reform, Ohioans collecting cash assistance were not provided with meaningful job training and a path out of poverty.

The results were calamitous.

Families whose cash assistance expired were left with little or no income and few prospects for employment. Ohio also was facing more than $130 million in federal fines, because federal law requires adults receiving cash assistance to work or attend job training, and many Ohioans were not doing so.

Faced with this dire outlook, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services took aggressive steps to design a new cash-assistance program that offers needy Ohioans both a monetary benefit and job training.

Some have accused us of “kicking people off” welfare, but that's simply not true. Only about 30 percent of the individuals who leave the cash-assistance program have failed to meet their work requirement, and all of those individuals are welcome to return after serving a one-, three- or six-month suspension.

We're also investing millions of dollars to help the neediest Ohioans with work and job training.

The 2014-15 state budget includes an additional $84 million for work supports such as gas cards, bus tokens and emergency rent payments. None of this funding is administrative. All of it will pay for direct services that help individuals meet their work requirement.

The budget also includes an additional $66 million in incentive payments to local OhioMeansJobs Centers that commit to helping Ohio Works First recipients find and keep jobs.

Most adults in Ohio can receive cash assistance for only three years. It is crucial that individuals coming off the welfare rolls have the skills, connections and work history necessary to find a job and support their families.

Welfare-to-work has finally come to Ohio, not to deny benefits to families in need, but to ensure that parents receive the training necessary to find a job and move out of poverty.